billpeters 388 Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 (edited) Asteroid 2020 LD 400 foot in diameter just missed Earth on June 5th coming about 190,000 miles away well within the Moon's orbit. Asteroid 2020 LD was only discovered two days after it had passed us. It has a highly elliptical orbit swinging well within the orbit of Mercury to well beyond Mars out into the main asteroid belt. Had it hit it would have made a crater almost two miles in diameter and temporarily wiped out a small US state or have created a significant tsunami. About one in 2300 objects within that distance on average would hit. If it had been noticed earlier it would have been visible in moderate telescopes at 11+ magnitude late Thursday night. Cheers! Don't sweat the small stuff, billpeters Edited June 9, 2020 by billpeters 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Morlock 1,690 Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 It's just a matter of time. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mikestang 925 Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 Thought I heard something wiz by my ear. 1 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Morlock 1,690 Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 https://www.businessinsider.com/car-size-asteroid-2020qg-missed-earth-by-2000-miles-2020-8 One of these days a big one is going to hit us again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
billpeters 388 Posted August 18, 2020 Author Share Posted August 18, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, Morlock said: https://www.businessinsider.com/car-size-asteroid-2020qg-missed-earth-by-2000-miles-2020-8 One of these days a big one is going to hit us again. Morlock, I had found this listing independently at spaceweather.com yesterday and computed it chance of hitting Earth at 2.1 to 1. So, about one out of two this close would have hit. The mass of NEO Asteroid 2020 QG is 185 tons or 170,000 lbs at 13 feet in diameter. The article says that it is the size of a pickup truck, but what it really means is the length. The average pick up truck weighs 5000 lbs, which would take 34 pick up trucks to equal the mass of NEO Asteroid 2020 QG. It is about twice the weight of the Washington Monument or half the weight of the Statue of Liberty. That would be a lot of meteorites. Maybe next time, billpeters Edited August 18, 2020 by billpeters New info Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.